Here's how you can stream films from Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, and Toronto film festivals

May 15, 2020 at 10:26 am
click to enlarge Here's how you can stream films from Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, and Toronto film festivals
Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com

You don't need to be an A-lister or a foot-loving director to catch some of the many films that once hit the big screen at international film festivals. Hell, you don't even have to leave your house ... or your sweats.

Since March, the coronavirus pandemic has forced entire industries to a standstill, including those of TV, film, and theater. Some film studios have opted to skip theatrical releases all together while heading straight to streaming services, for which we are thankful because, really, how many times can you re-watch Avengers: End Game? (The answer is eight. Eight friggin' times.)

Anyway, some of the world's most prestigious film festivals, like Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, and Toronto, have come together to curate a 10-day global film festival to be streamed for free on YouTube as part of "We Are One: A Global Film Festival."

More than 20 films spanning comedy, drama, documentary, and shorts have been selected for the streaming event, which will run from May 29 through June 7. A detailed schedule will be released closer to the event and is expected to include both new and previously released films, some of which may not have gotten the buzz they deserved when they had originally debuted.

The event will also accept donations from viewers to support the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Relief Fund.

This year's Cannes festival, which would have kicked off this week, may team up with fests still scheduled to take place later this year in Toronto, Deauville, New York, and Venice, rather than cancel the festival altogether.

Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux says Cannes had only been canceled once before, and that was due to World War II.

“I’m overcome with a great sense of melancholy and nostalgia. I’ve been going to the festival for 35 years. It’s my job, but beyond that it’s also an amazing convivial, human, artistic and gastronomic event, not just for me but for everyone who goes. Every year, we live an extraordinary experience,” Frémaux said in an interview with Screen Daily. “On a professional level, I’m facing an unprecedented situation, but with serenity.”

To see the updated list of films to be screened during the We Are One: A Global Film Festival, visit YouTube.

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